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The Republican-led Mississippi Legislature voted to strip Republican Gov. Tate Reeves of his sole spending authority of more than a billion dollars in federal coronavirus stimulus funds on Friday.

Lawmakers returned to the Capitol more than two weeks earlier than planned to claim spending control of the $1.25 billion in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds.

Before both chambers passed the bill Friday afternoon, Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn and Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann rebuked Reeves, who for weeks insisted he should have sole spending authority of the funds.

“The governor says that by letting him spend the money, he can get it where it needs to go more quickly,” Gunn said on Friday morning.” That makes for a good sound bite, but what voice does that give to our citizens in the decision making process? Under our system of government, the only place and the one place where the citizens have the voice in how their taxpayer dollars are spent is in the Legislature.”

The process began on Friday afternoon in the House, where members amended Senate Bill 2772 to move $1.15 billion of the federal funds to the budget contingency fund where the federal money could not be spent without legislative action. The bill that was amended is known as “the transfer bill” that is passed every year to establish a mechanism to move state funds around to meet various budget needs. Legislators left $100 million of the federal money in a fund that could be accessed by state agencies if they had immediate needs related to COVID-19.

The House passed the bill unanimously by a vote of 112-0. In the Senate, only Sens. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, and Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, voted against it. Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, voted present.

The Legislature had been in recess since mid-March because of COVID-19 safety concerns, but last week they scheduled a May 18 return. As Reeves ratcheted up comments about how he’d spend the funds, legislative leaders opted to call the legislators back into session on Friday to ensure that Reeves would not be able to begin spending the stimulus funds on his own.

While the Senate was debating the bill on Friday, Reeves held a news conference across the street from the Capitol. He accused legislators of engaging “in petty political difference” and said under “the worse case scenario (because of the legislative action), people will die.”

Reeves said the Legislature was trying “to steal” the federal spending authority.

“I cannot do my job without the funds the Trump administration acquired and expects the governors to use,” he said.

Reeves said he was using the funds just as former Gov. Haley Barbour used federal funds after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Great Recession in 2008-09, and as former Gov. Phil Bryant used funds the state received after the 2010 BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Legislature’s actions could force the extra 300 people hired to handle unemployment claims to be laid off, Reeves said, because they were going to be paid with the federal funds. Legislators did leave $100 million in a fund to pay for immediate coronavirus needs and will be back later this month, when they will presumably appropriate additional federal funds to deal with the pandemic.

The governor also went further to imply that the transfer of the money to the Legislature’s authority might mean there would not be enough money to pay unemployment claims. The money for unemployment claims, though, is in a separate pot of money and not impacted by the action of the Legislature.

The governor also indicated that he might ignore the bill because he said it was in conflict with other state laws, but he would not say on Friday whether he would veto it. When the Legislature is in session, the governor has five days to veto a bill after it is passed.

“In an emergency, a governor is responsible,” Reeves said. “You cannot manage an emergency by committee. Somebody has to be in charge.”

Legislators repeatedly said no one person should have sole authority of the funds.

“We think the governor has done a good job in the pandemic,” Hosemann said. “This is not about the governor… this is about the process for the money that was given to the state of Mississippi and it should be allocated by the Legislature.”

“What we are doing is not about politics, but about preserving the people’s voice in government” said Rep. Jason White, R-West and Speaker Pro Tem of the House.

About $1 billion in additional funds in the CARES Act was sent to various state governmental and education entities, including $34 million to the governor to be used for educational purposes. The Legislature did not try to address those funds Friday.

Legislators met in bizarre circumstances. The Capitol, which normally is bustling when the Legislature is in session, was near empty. Those entering the building had their temperature checked before they could walk inside. Access to the chambers was limited.

In the House, many legislators listened in offices on the sound system and members were given time to come to the chamber to ask questions, make a motion or to vote. The Senate spaced out senators by putting some in the gallery, typically where visitors come to watch. Most everyone was wearing masks.

The post Lawmakers strip Gov. Tate Reeves’ spending authority of more than $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus aid appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Aallyah Wright, Mississippi Today

State Rep. John Hines speaks out on challenges in the Greenville public schools.

A tense struggle for power between Republican legislative leaders and the Republican governor could come down to an unlikely group of elected officials: Mississippi’s legislative Democrats.

Democrats have for years been relegated to effectively no political power in the Capitol as Republicans swept statewide elections last year and shored up a three-fifths supermajority in both the House and the Senate.

But as Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn try to wrangle the sole spending authority of $1.2 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds from Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, Democrats will be the deciding votes between whether the legislative leaders or the governor keep that authority.

“There is an old political cliche: ‘Politics makes for strange bedfellows,’” said Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville. “This one of those situations where there’s a stranger sleeping in my bed. (Republicans) are going to need allies.”

The GOP power struggle centers on whether the governor or the Legislature should have spending authority over the $1.25 billion in coronavirus stimulus funds that the state of Mississippi has received. For weeks, Reeves has maintained he has the sole authority but that he would consult with the Legislature in how that money is spent.

But this week, legislative leaders took matters into their own hands, finalizing plans to return to the Capitol early to pass legislation that would guarantee them that spending power and take it out of the governor’s hands. On Wednesday, Hosemann and Gunn sent a letter to the state’s fiscal officer and state treasurer and asked them to halt spending the funds until the Legislature meets and decides how to proceed.

The Legislature has been in a coronavirus-related recess since mid-March and was previously scheduled to return on May 18. The Legislature is scheduled to reconvene at 1 p.m. Friday  — more than two weeks earlier than originally planned — to address the matter.

Leaders are negotiating behind closed doors on Thursday what the legislation will look like and how they will proceed. Sources close to the negotiations said one possibility remains that the House and Senate would need to vote to suspend the rules to bring up any new legislation that has been discussed. A vote to suspend the legislative rules requires a two-thirds vote of approval in both the House and the Senate.

While Republicans hold a three-fifths supermajority in both chambers, they do not hold a two-thirds supermajority in either chamber, meaning Democrats would have meaningful votes.

If the leaders finds a legislative method to avoid suspending the rules to introduce a bill, a two-thirds vote would be required to override a potential veto from the governor of any bill that does pass.

Both two-thirds votes scenarios give Democrats an important seat at the negotiating table regarding how the federal stimulus money should be spent.

Mississippi Today spoke with members of the Democratic Caucus and the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus to ask whether they believe the Legislature should have spending authority over the stimulus funds.

Top Democrats in the Legislature have been in talks with both Reeves and legislative leaders in recent hours as votes are being whipped and battle lines are being drawn.

Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez, the House Democratic leader, says he supports the effort of Gunn and Hosemann to ensure the Legislature has spending authority of the at least $1.25 billion in federal funds. But Johnson said he believes the Republican legislative leadership should work with the minority Democratic members to garner their input in spending the funds.

Most Democrats who spoke with Mississippi Today on Thursday said they believe the Legislature should have the spending authority.

Mississippi House

Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson

“There has been a history of the governor spending money in places where it didn’t affect the African American community,” said Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson. “With the COVID-19 crisis 100 percent affecting us, it’s a no-brainer to spend that in our communities…on clinical research, opportunities to find ways to help us with our diets and things of that nature, to provide monies for first responders, grocery store workers and janitors that have to deal with this.”

Bell also said he believes the funds should be spent on issues like providing broadband to rural areas and funding the state’s historically black colleges and universities health and engineering departments to help create ventilators, among other areas.

“One of the red flags for me was that (Reeves) thought he had the authority to spend the money, and then  he made the statement he’s going to hire a third party to help spend the money,” Bell said. “That’s what we’re here for.”

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Sen. David Blount speaks to Getty Israel during a committee meeting about Medicaid at the Mississippi State Capitol Tuesday, February 4, 2020.

Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson. said he does not have any preconceived notions on where the money should be spent but that it should be done in an open and transparent legislative process – not by one person.

“It is the constitutional duty of the legislative branch of government to appropriate money,” Blount said.

Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus comprised exclusively of Democrats, said that the money should be spent to help victims of the coronavirus. She stopped short of saying the funds should be appropriated by the Legislature.

Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press

State Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, raises a question during bills discussion in the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019.

“I don’t want to state a position right now,” Turner-Ford said.  “I would like to know the authority the governor says he has. I personally would like to have more information.”

Leaders from both the Legislative Black Caucus and the Democratic Caucus are working to create unanimity among their members, and sources in both caucuses said they are leaning toward siding with legislative leadership and hope to create meaningful dialogue with Hosemann and Gunn about how the money should be spent.

“The Legislature has the authority to appropriate funding for our state and the CARES act monies should not be treated any differently,” said Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes, D-Gulfport. “We are responsible for the welfare of the citizens of Mississippi and therefore, we should be able to appropriate funds for the benefit of all citizens.”

The post ‘There’s a stranger sleeping in my bed’: Legislative Democrats have rare bargaining power in CARES Act spending battle appeared first on Mississippi Today.